“Israel’s election is not a single game, but a tournament — and election day is only the opening round,” Dr Nimrod Nir of Agam Labs told The Independent.
“Our polling suggests that neither bloc is likely to secure a governing majority, leaving three possible outcomes: a unity government bringing Netanyahu together with more liberal parties, an alternative coalition backed by Arab parties, or yet another election.
(September 27, 2026)
Yair Golan, chair of the left-wing Democrats party, said Sunday that an Arab party could be part of the next government, exposing a fault line among opposition leaders less than a day after they met to coordinate their campaigns and pledged not to attack one another ahead of the October 27 election.
“We believe that an Arab party can be part of the government. It is natural, right, appropriate and democratic,” Golan told the Kan public broadcaster.
(October 19, 2026)
One of the most notable findings in the poll is the combined strength of the Arab parties. The Joint List, with nine seats, and Ra‘am, with five, together reach 14 seats.
In this poll, the Amcha Yisrael party and the Reservists-Economic list fail to cross the electoral threshold.
In the Channel 13 News poll, the Arab parties reach a record 15 seats.
They are eager to change the government
These are the main candidates and their parties.
The camp of Zionist parties opposing Netanyahu is projected to secure 52 seats, compared to 51 seats for Netanyahu‘s camp, along with the four seats that the Handel-Zelicha alliance is expected to obtain, which has yet to announce which camp it will join.
As for Arab representation, represented by the two Arab lists; the Triangular Joint List, which includes the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, the National Democratic Assembly, and the Arab Movement for Change, and the United List, together they are projected to obtain 13 seats, with 8 for the Joint List and 5 for the United List.
(October 2, 2026)
An AI-generated Likud campaign video, which Netanyahu himself has shared, shows Eisenkot running toward a young man wearing an “Israeli unity” shirt who resembles his son Gal, who was killed in the Gaza war. At the last moment, the young man turns away from Eisenkot to embrace Mansour Abbas, the leader of the United Arab List (Ra’am). Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana has similarly said that “Eisenkot has no coalition without Abbas.” Such messages target so-called soft-right voters who might otherwise drift toward Eisenkot.
(October 2, 2026)
In a decision announced on Friday, the court allowed the Joint-List—consisting of Hadash, Ta‘al and Balad – alongside Ra‘am, as well as Hadash MK Ofer Cassif, to run in the upcoming election set for 27 October.
Published Sep 25, 2026 · 32 days before the election
120 seats
Right-religious bloc 49
Center-opposition bloc 55
Non-aligned 4
Arab parties 12
Yashar (Eisenkot) 22
Likud 18
Together (Bennett-Lapid) 13
The Democrats 11
Otzma Yehudit 9
Yisrael Beytenu 9
Joint List (Hadash-Ta‘al-Balad) 7
Shas 6
United Torah Judaism 6
Religious Zionism-Zehut 6
Ra‘am 5
People of Israel (Winter) 4
Reservists-Economic (Hendel-Zelekha) 4
(September 26, 2026)
Israel’s Central Elections Committee has voted to bar the country’s two main Arab-majority political lists from next month’s parliamentary election, potentially leaving Palestinian citizens of Israel without their principal representatives in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
The committee also voted to disqualify Ofer Cassif, a Jewish politician from the Arab-Jewish Hadash party, and Sami Abu Shehadeh, the leader of the Palestinian nationalist Balad party.
Israel‘s Central Elections Committee (CEC) has barred all of the country’s Arab parties from running in the Knesset elections in October.
The committee, which is made up of representatives from major political parties, including MKs, voted to exclude the entire Joint List, which is made up of the Balad, Hadash, and Ta’al parties, as well as the Ra’am party.
According to Jabareen, “The dissolution of the Joint List in 2021 was a severe mistake that cost the Arab public political power and influence. Today, everyone understands this.” He added that despite ideological gaps with Ra’am, “The price of running separately will be unbearable—a drop in voter turnout and the continuation of the far-right rule.” He also emphasized that intensive talks are underway to reach agreements: “We are doing everything we can to bring hope back to our public.”
Representatives from Hadash and two Arab partiers, Balad, and Ta’al held a joint meeting last night to accelerate the reunification of the Joint List and remove obstacles toward an agreement. The three parties emphasized their consensus on core political issues and highlighted the importance of ongoing political and parliamentary coordination after the elections.
In a joint statement, the parties declared: “We would like Ra’am to be a partner in the political agreement, but we are aware of the significant gaps between our positions regarding the character and path of the Joint List. Nevertheless, recognizing the importance of unity against existential threats, the parties expressed willingness to reach an agreement with Ra’am based on a ‘technical joint list’ for the elections, aiming to raise voter turnout, strengthen Arab representation, and topple the far-right government.”
Last month, the Hadash party announced that it would promote direct dialogue with other Arab parties to explore the revival of the Joint List, which at its peak in 2015 and 2020 became the third-largest bloc in the Knesset and briefly held kingmaker influence.
The Hadash source said that several discussions have since taken place but that Monday’s was the first to be publicized, signaling “momentum.”
The bloc split due to internal fighting in 2021 when Mansour Abbas’s Islamist United Arab List (Ra’am) broke away and it collapsed the following year ahead of the 2022 election.
(April 5, 2026)
While acknowledging that there was a “heated meeting,” the source added that “such disagreements are natural” and said that another meeting will take place in the coming weeks.
Smotrich’s comments drew immediate condemnation from the opposition, with Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas asserting that “human life holds no value in his eyes”. MK Ayman Odeh, the chairman of Hadash-Ta’al parliamentary faction, also slammed Smotrich, declaring on X that “what the racists and Kahanists say is not important, what matters is what we will do.” “And we, the Arab citizens, together with the democratic Jews, will do everything, simply everything, to prevent Smotrich-Netanyahu-Ben Gvir from continuing to another term,” Odeh wrote.
(May 5, 2026)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sparked an uproar on Tuesday when he asserted that former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s decision to include the Islamist Ra’am party in his 2021-2022 government was far worse than the governmental failures tied to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught — the worst attack on civilians in Israeli history, which saw some 1,200 people murdered and 251 taken hostage, and which led to a multi-front war in which some 900 others have been killed.
Smotrich’s comments drew immediate condemnation from the opposition, with Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas asserting that “human life holds no value in [his] eyes” and Bennett accusing the finance minister, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of “trying with all their might to make people forget the atrocities that occurred on their watch.”
When asked if a government could be formed “without the support of MKs Ahmad Tibi or Aida Touma-Sliman” from the Hadash-Ta’al faction, Bennett replied: “We have a large majority even without them.” This statement comes despite a series of recent polls indicating that the Zionist parties opposing Netanyahu are unlikely to secure a majority without the support of Hadash and the Arab parties. (…)
Following the unification, Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the new “Yashar” party, called this morning for a meeting of opposition leaders excluding Hadash and Islamist Ra’am, “in order to ensure victory through Zionist and statesmanlike votes without Arabs.” In his announcement, Eisenkot mentioned the leaders of the “Together” list, Bennett and Lapid, as well as Yisrael Beiteinu chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman and The Democrats leader Yair Golan.
During the session, political leaders, including the Communist Party of Israel Secretary-General Adel Amer and Hadash Secretary Amjad Shbita, addressed the regional political situation. Discussions centered on the fragile ceasefire, the risk of renewed war on Iran and Lebanon, and the concerning rise of internal fascism and ongoing occupation of Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian territories.
“The establishment of the Joint List is not merely a tactical maneuver,” Hadash stated in an official communique. “It is a fundamental mission to shift the political balance of power and intensify the struggle against the occupation.” In addition to election preparations, Hadash leadership issued a formal call for public mobilization. Activists and supporters are urged to participate in International Workers’ Day events on Friday, May 1, in Tel Aviv, on Saturday, May 2 in Nazareth and other localities.
Channel 13 also asked respondents how they would vote if Hadash and three Arab parties, Ra’am, Ta’al and Balad, ran together as the Joint List, as they have done in the past. In such a scenario, the Joint List would become the third largest parliamentary faction, with sixteen seats. Likud would shrink to 20 and Religious Zionism would rise to six, giving Netanyahu’s coalition a total of 53 seats, and Bennett’s party would shrink to 20 while Yashar Eisenkot’s and Democrats Golan’s parties would drop to eleven and seven, respectively, giving the Zionist opposition bloc a total of 51 seats. Hadash and the Arab parties pledged earlier this year to work to reestablish the Joint List, with little signs of progress.
The trend in Arab politics is for the four main existing parties to reorganize as a “Joint List” for this year’s election. The aim is to both maximize turnout and prevent wasted votes (because of Balad, nearly 3% of ballots were thrown away last time, and together with a similar situation in Meretz, this handed victory to Netanyahu). Such a list is expected to win 15 seats or more, and even if it splits after the election, some of its components will want to participate in the government. If it’s formed by the opposition, support among Arabs would be overwhelming.
(January 28, 2026)
This is a historic event in a volatile political moment. Even before the publication of polls gauging the Joint List’s electoral strength — predicting that it could secure 15-16 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, making it the third largest force in Israeli politics — the popular demand for unity suggests the possibility for unprecedented voter turnout in Arab society.
Israeli news outlets described the renewal of the Joint List as “drama in the political system,” and rightly so. Such a scenario would alter the balance between opposing blocs and force Zionist parties across the spectrum — from Yair Golan’s center-left Democrats to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud — to recalibrate their strategies.
Polls show the Joint List gaining strength and win 14 to 15 seats in the next Knesset. Wednesday’s Channel 13 survey sees far-right PM Netanyahu’s Likud party gaining one seat and the Jont List win 15. As with previous surveys, without the Joint List parties’ support, both blocs fall short of securing the required 61-seat majority to form a ruling coalition
According to another poll, published on Thursday by the Zman Israel website, Joint list of Hadash and three Arab parties would win 14 of the Knesset’s 120 seats if elections were held today, continuing to prevent a parliamentary majority from the Zionist opposition parties.
„The Joint List could become the second or third largest party in the Knesset in terms of size and representation, forming a parliamentary bloc capable of achieving far more than any small party acting alone,“ he added.
Efforts to re-establish the Joint List have been underway for some time. In August, The Times of Israel reported that party leaders were holding talks aimed at reviving the alliance, amid frustration over Israel’s war on Gaza and a desire to increase the political influence of Palestinian citizens of Israel.
The pledge document, entitled „Joint List Now“, was signed by Sami Abu Shehadeh, head of the National Democratic Assembly (Balad); Ayman Odeh, head of the Hadash alliance; Ahmad Tibi, head of the Arab Movement for Change (Ta’al); and Mansour Abbas, head of the United Arab List (Ra’am).
The parties first formed the Joint List in 2015 to run on a shared platform representing Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Yet such promises count for little at a time when Israel’s current government continues to bomb, shell, and starve Palestinians in Gaza, all while taking rapid steps toward formally annexing the West Bank. Nor has the opposition — neither its parliamentary representatives, like the Democrats, or the protest movement in the streets — shown the ability to turn growing discontent over the government’s handling of the war and abandonment of the hostages into a full-throated defense of Palestinians’ humanity.
Until they do, it is hard to imagine just how different the next government, whoever comprises it, will be when it comes to the prospect of peace and equality for all the people in this land.
Hadash and three Arab parties Ra’am, Ta’al, and Balad are negotiating to reestablish the Joint List bloc ahead for the next elections. “The atmosphere during the meeting on Sunday was really good,” MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash-Ta’al) told The Jerusalem Post. During the meeting, Hadash-Ta’al presented a “road map toward the Joint List” who included a detailed three-phase process for the reestablishing the list.
On Monday, the Knesset House Committee voted to impeach Palestinian parliamentarian Ayman Odeh, head of the predominantly Arab Hadash-Ta’al list. His crime? In January, as the two-month Gaza ceasefire came into effect, Odeh tweeted: “I am happy about the release of the [Israeli] hostages and [Palestinian] prisoners. From here, both peoples must be freed from the yoke of the occupation. We were all born free.”
As I watched the committee’s hearing, I felt like my eyes were bleeding. It was physically unbearable. Knesset members from across the political spectrum — who aren’t worthy of the dust on Odeh’s shoes when it comes to humanism, morality, and democratic integrity — competed to see who could spew the vilest rhetoric against him.
No one paid attention to the Knesset’s legal adviser — who, after the obligatory lip service condemning Odeh’s “disgusting statements,” concluded that there was no legal basis for his impeachment. And it goes without saying that no one listened to Odeh’s attorney, Dr. Hassan Jabareen, who explained why the proposal was procedurally flawed, legally unsound, and morally bankrupt.
From the first sentence to the last, the hearing was a farce.
The impeachment was not just a response to specific statements but directed against “Odeh as a person and everything he represents,” Boaron said in his closing argument. At the end of the hearing, committee chairman Ofir Katz (Likud) said Odeh was a “bitter enemy” of Israel, and in a “normal country,” he would “rot in jail.”
Only Ra’am MK Waleed Taha and Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi voted against his impeachment.